DARWEN is set for a jobs boost after the announcement of plans for new industrial premises.

Forty new vacancies look set to be created if council bosses give the go-ahead for the engineering and manufacturing factory, which is due to be built in Spring Vale Road.

It is expected that 35 industrial staff will be taken on as well as five more office staff.

The news comes just weeks after 24 employers were made redundant at Zen Wallcoverings in Darwen when the firm went into receivership.

Bosses at Darwen-based Welding Engineering, in Junction Street, submitted a planning application to Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council at the end of last month.

The proposals are part of a major expansion plan for the company, which currently employs 100 people, and is presently waiting to hear whether management have secured a contract from national firm Railtrack to build signal structures for them.

The land is currently vacant but was previously used for industrial purposes.

If the plans gets the green light building work is expected to start before the end of the year and will include 5,000 square feet of office space, 35,000 square feet of industrial space and a car park. Steve Hartley, managing director of Welding Engineering, said: "It is part of an expansion plan for the company but it may not come off. If it all goes ahead there will be more jobs going to Darwen. It's all connected to getting some business out of Railtrack. We are waiting to hear from them as to whether we will be given the contract to build signal structures."

David Abbot from Moorsolve Ltd, the company acting as agents on behalf of Welding said: "Building will start more or less straight away after the council gives us permission. We are hoping it will start before the end of the year but do not have a completion date. That just depends on the construction company.

"The employment side of the plans will be a great boost to Darwen as I would think it would be for any town."

Ward councillor Karimeh Foster said she was pleased more jobs would be on their way to Darwen but had reservations about the type of premises they were.

She said: "We are desperate to bring jobs back to the town of Darwen.

"But I want to consult with the people of my ward, first about the opening of this kind of company or factory. I am all for jobs creation as long as it doesn't harm anybody else.

"But I will try to encourage them to welcome it. We desperately need something going on around here but we don't want to rush into it for the sake of it."